The Most Important Woman in the Universe
by Arabella Song
Summary: River hears the story of Donna Noble and decides she has to meet the girl.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I'm back. I had this idea and just had to write it down. This is the first chapter, and I'll post one more in a few days. Let me know what you think. I loved writing it**

**I don't own Doctor Who**

"Did I ever tell you about Donna Noble?" The Doctor asked his wife. She had her head in his lap and rolled her eyes. As if he needed to tell her. She was famous throughout the universe. She thought that maybe he just liked to brag about the famous people he'd met and saved. Like William Shakespeare. _"Did I ever tell you about how Shakespeare was in love with my companion Martha?" _ Or Agatha Cristie. _"Oh yeah, I saved Agatha Cristie from a giant alien bee"_ At least she could shut him up about Cleopatra...

"The timelord-human metacrisis girl?"

"She was much more than that. The most important woman in the universe" At that, River made a snort of discontent. He laughed and took her hand before she could pull away

"But not the most important to me" River smiled, and resettled in her spot on his lap.

"What about her?"

"She traveled with me for a year or two. We went everywhere, but she never realized how important she really was. The first one in a long while not to fall for me" He was clearly bragging, so River laughed.

"I suppose the bowtie was a huge turn on"

"Well it was in previous forms. But you'd know all about that" He placed her gently beside him and stood up "I've been meaning to give you this for a while..." She followed him over to a cupboard. He opened it and pulled out a small bundle. He turned around and handed it to her. She opened it, and a few pictures spilled out. She bent down and picked them up. There were eleven pictures of men, some young, some old. One who was very familiar on top.

"Are these all you?" He nodded. "Even the one wearing celery?"

"An unfortunate fashion choice"

"So which one was the lady's man?" He looked slightly affronted

"Who said it wasn't all of them?" She gave him a look.

"Well I was well loved all my life!" She snorted in disbelief and looked down at the pictures in her hands and pulled one out.

"It was this one, wasn't it?" He looked at it. It was his previous face, his tenth. He nodded. She kissed him on the cheek and whispered "Knew it" into his ear, before leaning back on the chair. He sat down in it and patted on his lap for her to sit back down. She did, and he decided it was time to launch back into his story.

"So back to topic, she was brilliant. She stopped me from doing a lot of things I would have regretted, and made me do a lot of things I'm proud of. She somehow understood how I felt when... when things went wrong" He tried to cover up a few tears and River looked up at him.

"Is something wrong? You- you don't need to keep going"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay" she said reluctantly, biting her lip a bit nervously. "So how did she manage to become part-timelord?"

"We were in a bad place. I was trapped by Davros, along with Rose" River rolled her eyes in annoyance, and the Doctor laughed. "No need to be jealous. So then he threw the TARDIS into the heart of the empire. It was going to burn up, and Donna was inside" River gasped, and the TARDIS shuddered a bit, like it remembered. "I saw it in the fire, and then the stream cut off. I assumed that they were gone"

"But how did she survive?" River asked, slightly protective over it, rubbing her hand on the wall lightly

"All in good time. So then Martha and Jack and Sarah Jane and Rose's mother and ex-boyfriend all got caught too. Davros revealed his plan. A reality bomb. Tear apart all of reality outside the Dalek empire" She gasped again. She knew that it had been stopped, but hadn't realized just how bad things had gotten for him.

"And you stopped him?"

"No"

"No?"

"Donna did"

"Are you going to tell me how she survived then?" He laughed at her eagerness.

"My hand saved her"

"Your hand?" She looked at him in disbelief. She waved the picture of his tenth self in his face. "Definitely two hands in this picture."

"Oh come on, you know this one! You've done it too" She thought of herself when she was a little bit younger, the last time she had regenerated- the last time she ever would.

"You somehow lost it right after regeneration." She said solemnly, dropping her head down a little bit He put a finger under her chin and pulled her head up, somehow knowing what she was thinking about.

"You are forgiven. You saved me"

"I also killed you…"

"Because you were kidnapped at birth by a mad woman because I couldn't save you. I don't really want to argue about this again. Do you want to hear what happened next?" She nodded, still looking a bit like a beaten dog.

"Before we were captured, a Dalek had shot me. I was going to regenerate. But I wasn't ready to go yet, and so I shot my spare hand full of regenerative energy, only using enough to heal myself" River shot up, excited.

"So Donna was in the TARDIS with your regenerative energy-high hand? And then… she touched it, and something transferred, giving her the memories of yours contained in the energy!"

"Almost perfect. Just missing one aspect"

"What else?"

"What happened to the hand?"

"It… I don't know" her excitement faded slightly

"Well I'll give you a hint. I have a twin" That bit of information entered her brain in a burst of fire, making the ideas spread until she came to it.

"It was two sided! She got a timelord's brain, and your hand got a human body! Oh, that's amazing!"

"Exactly! Except the information didn't come to her immediately. It was still buried in her head"

"So your clone got the TARDIS out of there! And then they appeared and popped out of the TARDIS. I bet Davros had a fit" the Doctor laughed.

"A bit of one, yeah. But he got over it quickly and trapped John" River's quizzical look, he explained. "John is what we called my clone. He was human, so he got my human name. John Smith"

"Okay… So everyone but Donna's trapped, but she's still just human… Let's say she tries to attack Davros, and he somehow stops her too… but he underestimates her and leaves her on the ground to taunt you. She gets up, somehow has your brain in her head, and stops him" she finished triumphantly, happy with her idea. The Doctor stared at her wide-eyed "I'm guessing I was close"

"She tried to use a weapon against him, but didn't know how. He shot her with electricity, giving her the jump start she needed to access my head. She got to the Dalek console and messed with them. Shorted out Davros's electricity, released everyone… made the Daleks into ballerinas" River laughed, imagining it in her head. She thought she'd like this girl.

"So the Daleks are stopped and everyone's safe… why did she leave then?" His eyes turned down, and he sighed. He seemed absorbed in the memory. They sat in silence for a few minutes. She was just about to get up when he finally spoke.

"Because it's not possible. There can't be a human with a timelord in her head"

"What about me?"

"You're special. You were born part timelord, still only one mind in your head. But Donna had two. Her own, and mine. And it was too much for her. I had to take away her memories. I couldn't take my brain out, but I could bury it. Deep enough that she'd be safe, unless she remembered"

"But your clone was a human with a timelord brain. What happened to him?"

"He was like you. Part human, part timelord. But still only one brain. I dropped him off with Rose. They could grow old together, something I couldn't offer her. I dropped everyone else off, explained to Donna's mother and grandfather"

"How did they take it?"

"Not well. But there was nothing anyone could do. If she remembered, she'd burn up…"

"I wish I had met her" River said softly before standing up. "I'm going to bed"

He watched her walk out sadly

"You did" He whispered, quiet enough that she couldn't hear him.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am dreadful, and you should all kill me, and I am so sorry! I am late with everything, severely late, and I am sorry. You see, I hopped in my TARDIS for a quick trip to this planet, and I didn't get back in time. She's quite unreliable. Anywho, here goes nothing! In this chapter, it's very skip-around-y. So... sorry about that.**

"Pretty Boy, you're with me. Step into my office."

She called out orders to them all, blocking off exits, setting up the lights. Her husband needed her to do it, so she did. Of course, he didn't know that she was his wife. Not for a while now. She missed the few times she had been linear with him. It almost made her feel like a wife instead of a follower.

"Pretty Boy, with me I said" he turned to her in surprise and then turned to the woman by his side.

"Oh, I'm Pretty Boy?" he was so clueless in the early days

"Yes. Ooh, that came out a bit quick!" The woman was a bit cheeky, it seemed. River kind of liked that. The Doctor still stood there incredulous.

"Pretty?!" Maybe she did miss her conceited Doctor. Though it seemed as though this one might just be more fun to play with. She waited expectantly for the woman's answer.

"Meh" she shrugged her shoulders. River just laughed. Her sweetie had drooped at that. Perhaps he was more conceited than he had let on...

* * *

River turned to the woman standing next to her. She never had caught her name. It ought to be easy enough to figure out.

"You travel with him, don't you? The Doctor, you travel with him"

"What of it?" the ginger asked. River paused for a moment, and the woman looked at her. "You know him, don't you?"

"Oh, God, do I know that man. We go way back, that man and me," she thought of all their trips, all their adventures. She sighed sadly "Just not this far back." The woman looked confused

"I'm sorry, what?" she did her best to explain.

"He hasn't met me yet. I sent him a message, but it went wrong. It arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does." She felt like crying, but held it in. That seemed to be her life with him now. Hold it in, save him the pain. She thought of her mother for a brief moment before shaking her head slightly.

"What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know him or don't you?" The woman seemed a bit upset with her now. It was certainly complex to grasp, and yet it didn't seem as though it would be THAT difficult.

"Donna! Quiet! I'm working" River laughed for a moment. Definitely still the Doctor. Then she froze. Donna. Donna Noble. She remembered the story so strongly; it had been only a month ago, when she had been told the tale.

"Donna? You're Donna? Donna Noble?" she was lost in thought, but had to be certain that this was the moment she had been waiting for.

"Yeah. Why?" How could she tell her without giving anything away?

"I do know the Doctor. But in the future. His personal future." She practically whispered it. She oughtn't say anything...

"So why don't you know me? Where am I in the future?" Donna looked around worriedly. River ignored the question.

* * *

They were crowded around the skeleton. River watched in regret, knowing this would be bad. Suddenly, she said something different.

"Where's that woman? The nice woman... is she there?" River tightened her face a bit. Should they be hearing this? Lux, of course, got involved.

"What woman?" Donna stepped forward.

"She means... I think, she means me." It made sense

"Is she there? The nice woman?" Miss Evangelista cried out again

"Yeah, she's here, hang on" River set it up so that she could hear everything. "Go ahead. She can hear you" Donna looked a bit horrified, her face completely blank.

"Hello? Are you there?" She was pleading. She wouldn't be long now. Donna shook her head feverishly. The Doctor leaned over and whispered to her.

"Help her" Donna was still shaking her head, crying.

"She's dead" the Doctor's face grew grim.

"Yeah," he paused. "Help her"

"Hello? Is that the nice woman?" River's heart sank. They had ignored this woman and scorned her so much that she turned to a stranger at her death.

"Yeah. Hello. Yeah, I'm, I'm... I'm here. You OK?" her voice shook a bit, but Donna had managed to choke the words out. Maybe it wasn't just us turning her away. Maybe it was just something about Donna. Something about her just drew you in.

* * *

"There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could..." he was pleading with her, begging her to let him die in her place. She shook her head. She couldn't let him die, and she couldn't let him learn about their future. It couldn't be told

"Hush, now! Spoilers..." River was crying, but she knew this had to happen. He'd known it too. A month ago, when she had first told him about the expedition, he had grown sad, and then had told her the story of Donna Noble. Perhaps there had been a reason.

"...three, two, one..." the computer continued its countdown to the end. She plugged the two cables together, and a light flashed. She felt incredible pain in a rush, and then it went dark. Her final thought was of Donna Noble, and how the woman had far surpassed her expectations. She sent out a prayer for her to enjoy her time while it lasted.


End file.
